Encyclopedia - London Gazette
The London Gazette
was - and remains to the present day - "the official official newspaper of
record in the United Kingdom". Published since 14 November 1665 during
the London plague (as the Oxford Gazette) today certain legal
notices (e.g. insolvency) are required by law to be published in the
Gazette. Today there are separate London, Belfast and Edinburgh
editions of the Gazette.
At one time published on high-quality cotton rag designed to weather the years effectively, during the First World War news of honours and awards were always printed in the London Gazette, as were details of officer's commissions.
Despatches written by the British Army's various Commanders-in-Chief (such as those written by Sir John French and Sir Douglas Haig) were similarly published as supplements to the newspaper.
Wartime issues of the Gazette can now be read online at the Gazette website via subscription (click here to go to https://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/).
The Public Record Office in London (website) also offers access to a full set of the London Gazette for research purposes.
A Town Major was a staff officer responsible for billeting arrangements in a town or village behind the lines.
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